“She Followed Every Rule”: ICE Seizes Berkeley Honor Student Paula Hernandez at SFO Gate

Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez did everything right. The 23-year-old came to the U.S. from Colombia in 2022 and applied for asylum after experiencing “severe gender-based violence.” She held a valid work permit, graduated from San Jose City College, transferred to UC Berkeley to study business administration, and was doing research on artificial intelligence. She has no criminal record. Yet on a Friday night at San Francisco International Airport, while she waited to board a flight to Portland for a hiking trip with her boyfriend, ICE agents took her into custody.

How it happened is disturbing. According to her boyfriend, Anthony, a plainclothes agent walked up, said she “looked familiar,” and guessed at names until he got hers right, all without saying he worked for ICE. Then agents separated the couple. “It was scary seeing that my partner was getting ripped apart from me and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Anthony said.

She was moved to California City Detention Center, the same facility where a court-ordered investigation found major flaws in medical care earlier this year. Her attorney, Niko De Bremaeker, put it plainly: “This is somebody who was very much known with the government, she had been complying at every step.” In his view, her arrest “demonstrates the arbitrary nature in which the government is arresting folks.”

Her lawyers argue that ICE broke federal law and the Constitution by detaining her without a warrant and without checking whether she was a flight risk. DHS brushed that aside: “work authorization or a pending application does NOT confer legal status.” That answer shows the problem. If following the asylum process gives no protection, then compliance means nothing, and anyone waiting for a ruling can be picked up while catching a flight.

Even UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons stepped in, calling her “one of our outstanding students” and asking that she be allowed to resume her studies. Berkeley’s mayor added that detaining a student like Hernandez does not make the city safer.

Paula’s dream was Berkeley. “She’s always working, day and night,” Anthony said. Now she waits in detention for a Nov. 17 hearing.

Link: KCRA